Press Release from Solarpowergetics, Inc.
June 19, 2007 - La Jolla, California
Solarpowergetics Inc. (SPG) announced today that it has reached an agreement to distribute crystalline silicon solar cells, modules and dual glass solar modules on behalf of Wuxi Shangpin Solar Energy & Technology Company (China). The agreement is expected to advance SPG into the largest solar markets in the United States, including New Jersey, New York and California.
"We are pleased to offer world-class solar modules at radically reduced prices. Future growth in solar depends on much lower prices, which will stimulate growth for mass consumption. Acceptance of solar power for practical use requires design and integration into simple "plug and play" systems to justify the expense. The agreement with Wuxi Shangpin Solar, along with competitive pricing strategies, will permit us to quickly demonstrate the extreme benefits of solar, wind and thermal power systems in the United States," said Miguel Hidalgo, CEO and President of Solarpowergetics Inc. "We must promote clean energy now to save the planet. Let us reduce the level of carbon emissions, kick our addiction to oil and break away from the toxic Industrial Revolution and move forward into the next century together."
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Top 10 Solar Cell Manufacturers in 2005 and 2006
These lists show the market share leaders for manufacturers of photovoltaic cells in 2005 and 2006.
2005
1. Sharp
2. Q-Cells
3. Kyocera
4. Sanyo
5. Mitsubishi
6. Schott Solar
7. BP Solar
8. Suntech
9. Motech
10. Shell Solar
2006
1. Sharp
2. Q-Cells
3. Kyocera
4. Suntech
5. Sanyo
6. Mitsubishi
7. Motech
8. Schott Solar
9. Deutsche Cell
10. BP Solar
Source: Photo International
2005
1. Sharp
2. Q-Cells
3. Kyocera
4. Sanyo
5. Mitsubishi
6. Schott Solar
7. BP Solar
8. Suntech
9. Motech
10. Shell Solar
2006
1. Sharp
2. Q-Cells
3. Kyocera
4. Suntech
5. Sanyo
6. Mitsubishi
7. Motech
8. Schott Solar
9. Deutsche Cell
10. BP Solar
Source: Photo International
Chinese challenger aims for top spot in solar tech
By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: June 18, 2007, 4:00 AM PDT
Bucking the automation trend, Suntech Power Holdings credits its rise in the solar industry to people, and lots of them.
Rather than use expensive robots, Suntech employs roughly 2,500 workers to assemble solar cells into panels and perform other tasks ordinarily handled by machines. The workers give Suntech a lower operating cost than Western competitors, and there are fewer broken cells, said Steve Chan, vice president of business development at the company.
The factory workers make, on average, about $200 a month, not including housing subsidies, free food and an on-site medical clinic. (It's about half of what a new college graduate earns in China).
Low-tech as it sounds, the approach has led to a Moore's Law-like growth rate for the Shanghai-based company. Suntech, which makes both solar cells and completed panels, was an asterisk in overall market share in 2002. By 2005, it was the eighth largest solar cell maker in the world, according to statistics from Photon International. In 2006, it jumped to fourth and this year passed No. 3 Kyocera in solar cell manufacturing capacity.
Suntech's revenue and profits are following a similar path. Sales in 2006 rose to $598.6 million, more than doubling 2005 revenue, while net income rose by from 30.6 million in 2005 to 106 million last year. Revenue this year will likely hit $1 billion. In 2002, revenue was $3 million.
"We came from nowhere," Chan said. "We were able to grow in the face of an industry shortage of silicon."
Many believe the company now has its eye on toppling Sharp as No. 1 in the industry. Sharp has factory capacity to produce enough solar cells to put out 600 megawatts of power in a year, compared with Suntech's 360 megawatts. By 2010, Suntech expects to have the factory capacity to produce 1 gigawatt of solar cells a year.
"Suntech, longer term, is going to be the Honda Civic of the industry," said Jeff Osborne, an analyst at CIBC World Markets. "My fundamental belief is that 80 to 90 percent of the market, long term, will be a commodity product and the Chinese and Taiwanese are going to dominate that (commodity) sector."
Alternative energy is becoming big business in China. In the past two years, several Chinese solar companies--such as Nanjing's Sunergy, JA Solar Holdings and Solarfun Power Holdings--have held initial public offerings in the U.S. Suntech did it first, in late 2005; because of the IPO, founder Zhengrong Shi is one of the richest men in the country.
Chinese manufacturers have also begun to expand into the market for solar water heaters. Meanwhile, The Jiangsu province has linked up with the Cleantech Network and Tsinghua University to create a clean-tech industrial park.
Not the usual storyBut just when you think this might be another story about how low-cost labor in China will bowl over established Westerners, guess again. Product quality, solar cell efficiency and access to large amounts of silicon remain key considerations and will hinder many of the new entrants from China, said Paula Mints, an associate director for Navigant Consulting. Most of the other Chinese companies have barely made a dent in the market, and price cutting is already trimming their margins.
Then there is the problem of shipping. Solar panels weigh a lot. Shipping them from China virtually eliminates any of the costs saved through cheaper labor, Mints said.
"The shipping costs are significant. You've got to get the stuff across the ocean and then you've got to land it," she said. "Unless the domestic market takes off, the other manufacturers will be challenged."
To address these problems, Suntech is preparing its second act. While trying to beat competitors with lower costs, Suntech will go high-tech in another area. It is building a conveyor belt and robotic system for cell manufacturing that will allow it to shoot for gigawatt-scale output, said Chan. Managing manual laborers "will probably become cumbersome at some point," he said.
Two of the five robotic systems Suntech hopes to one day deploy are already being beta tested.
It is also building its own industrial park near its factories, which will house equipment providers (assembling the robots designed by Suntech) as well as component suppliers, to cut down costs and increase efficiency. The strategy neatly mimics what Dell has done in PCs.
To top it off, the company is wedging its way into thin-film solar cells, roofing tiles with integrated solar cells through the acquisition of a Japanese company, and higher-margin solar cells that can convert more sunlight into electricity than average cells.
"We feel we are going to hit 20 percent efficiency in a few years, but we will do it with a low-cost structure," Chan said.
If the company succeeds, other Chinese companies will follow suit, so what happens over the next few years for Suntech is a big deal in solar.
"The Chinese companies are where we will have to keep our eyes open," said Ron Kenedi, vice president of the Solar Energy Solutions Group at Sharp.
Published: June 18, 2007, 4:00 AM PDT
Bucking the automation trend, Suntech Power Holdings credits its rise in the solar industry to people, and lots of them.
Rather than use expensive robots, Suntech employs roughly 2,500 workers to assemble solar cells into panels and perform other tasks ordinarily handled by machines. The workers give Suntech a lower operating cost than Western competitors, and there are fewer broken cells, said Steve Chan, vice president of business development at the company.
The factory workers make, on average, about $200 a month, not including housing subsidies, free food and an on-site medical clinic. (It's about half of what a new college graduate earns in China).
Low-tech as it sounds, the approach has led to a Moore's Law-like growth rate for the Shanghai-based company. Suntech, which makes both solar cells and completed panels, was an asterisk in overall market share in 2002. By 2005, it was the eighth largest solar cell maker in the world, according to statistics from Photon International. In 2006, it jumped to fourth and this year passed No. 3 Kyocera in solar cell manufacturing capacity.
Suntech's revenue and profits are following a similar path. Sales in 2006 rose to $598.6 million, more than doubling 2005 revenue, while net income rose by from 30.6 million in 2005 to 106 million last year. Revenue this year will likely hit $1 billion. In 2002, revenue was $3 million.
"We came from nowhere," Chan said. "We were able to grow in the face of an industry shortage of silicon."
Many believe the company now has its eye on toppling Sharp as No. 1 in the industry. Sharp has factory capacity to produce enough solar cells to put out 600 megawatts of power in a year, compared with Suntech's 360 megawatts. By 2010, Suntech expects to have the factory capacity to produce 1 gigawatt of solar cells a year.
"Suntech, longer term, is going to be the Honda Civic of the industry," said Jeff Osborne, an analyst at CIBC World Markets. "My fundamental belief is that 80 to 90 percent of the market, long term, will be a commodity product and the Chinese and Taiwanese are going to dominate that (commodity) sector."
Alternative energy is becoming big business in China. In the past two years, several Chinese solar companies--such as Nanjing's Sunergy, JA Solar Holdings and Solarfun Power Holdings--have held initial public offerings in the U.S. Suntech did it first, in late 2005; because of the IPO, founder Zhengrong Shi is one of the richest men in the country.
Chinese manufacturers have also begun to expand into the market for solar water heaters. Meanwhile, The Jiangsu province has linked up with the Cleantech Network and Tsinghua University to create a clean-tech industrial park.
Not the usual storyBut just when you think this might be another story about how low-cost labor in China will bowl over established Westerners, guess again. Product quality, solar cell efficiency and access to large amounts of silicon remain key considerations and will hinder many of the new entrants from China, said Paula Mints, an associate director for Navigant Consulting. Most of the other Chinese companies have barely made a dent in the market, and price cutting is already trimming their margins.
Then there is the problem of shipping. Solar panels weigh a lot. Shipping them from China virtually eliminates any of the costs saved through cheaper labor, Mints said.
"The shipping costs are significant. You've got to get the stuff across the ocean and then you've got to land it," she said. "Unless the domestic market takes off, the other manufacturers will be challenged."
To address these problems, Suntech is preparing its second act. While trying to beat competitors with lower costs, Suntech will go high-tech in another area. It is building a conveyor belt and robotic system for cell manufacturing that will allow it to shoot for gigawatt-scale output, said Chan. Managing manual laborers "will probably become cumbersome at some point," he said.
Two of the five robotic systems Suntech hopes to one day deploy are already being beta tested.
It is also building its own industrial park near its factories, which will house equipment providers (assembling the robots designed by Suntech) as well as component suppliers, to cut down costs and increase efficiency. The strategy neatly mimics what Dell has done in PCs.
To top it off, the company is wedging its way into thin-film solar cells, roofing tiles with integrated solar cells through the acquisition of a Japanese company, and higher-margin solar cells that can convert more sunlight into electricity than average cells.
"We feel we are going to hit 20 percent efficiency in a few years, but we will do it with a low-cost structure," Chan said.
If the company succeeds, other Chinese companies will follow suit, so what happens over the next few years for Suntech is a big deal in solar.
"The Chinese companies are where we will have to keep our eyes open," said Ron Kenedi, vice president of the Solar Energy Solutions Group at Sharp.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Kunming Heats Up as China's "Solar City"
Ryan Hodum – June 5, 2007 – 5:00am
Traveling across China, it's hard not to notice a unique and environmentally benign technology that has been gracefully integrated into urban buildings and other structures. As solar hot water heaters have grown in prominence over the last 30 years, they are now visible almost everywhere, atop hutongs (traditional alley complexes) in Beijing, on modern apartments in Shanghai, and in farming communities in rural Lijiang.
The heaters consist of a series of cylindrical glass tubes, mounted at an angle, connected to a large water storage tank. Mainland China is now home to as much as 60 percent of the world’s solar hot water heating capacity, and the total installed capacity of the heaters in the country is estimated at 30 million households, according to Eric Martinot, a renewable energy expert and Worldwatch Institute senior fellow based in Beijing.
But it is clear that one city stands out as China's aspiring "solar city", and that is Kunming in the western province of Yunnan. Although Kunming is more often referred to as the "City of Eternal Spring" due to its moderate climate, as one travels toward the city's central district, it is virtually impossible to avoid the glare reflecting from water tanks atop nearly every apartment complex. More than half the city's 4.7 million inhabitants use the solar heaters, according to Sangte Li, CEO of Sangte Solar, a successful manufacturer and distributor of the units in Kunming.
As China's urban population continues to grow each year (by nearly 50 percent in 2007), many apartment renters now expect to get a solar hot water unit along with traditional amenities. "The technology is so cheap it has become commonplace for everyone to have," explains Li. "Most people consider it an included expense as part of their total energy bill.... A solar hot water heater is viewed as a standard appliance by most urban Chinese dwellers."
Sangte Li says the units can be relatively inexpensive to install, with the average heater costing only 1,600 yuan (about US$200). The affordability and prevalence of the units is attributed to the low cost of domestic manufacturing, a competitive market, and plentiful solar resources throughout China. Over the last three decades, the industry has matured as a result of the implementation of government incentive programs, revised building codes, and product certification centers.
The technology is simple and practical. Sunlight passes through an outer glass tube and heats an absorber tube inside; a vacuum in the glass prevents any loss in temperature. A heat pipe then carries the collected energy to the water storage tank, where the liquid is heated. Because the glass tube has a high thermal conductivity, it is able to transfer large amounts of heat with a marginal rise in temperature.
The earliest Chinese models were derived from European technology, but the modern all-glass evacuated vacuum tube used today throughout much of the country was developed and patented by professors at Tsinghua University in Beijing. An average unit is about as wide as a bathtub and roughly 1.5 meters tall. The heated water is used mainly for showers and for washing dishes and clothes.
Kunming is home to many experts in the solar field. The Solar Energy Research Institute at Yunnan Normal University, founded in 1971, consists of four laboratories specializing in solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, biomass energy, and environmental engineering. Through technology cooperation and personnel training, the Institute has played an important role in establishing the solar energy industry in the province. In addition, the Chinese government authorized the formation of three National Solar Water Heating Testing Centers in 2002, one of which is housed at Yunnan Normal. The center provides free testing services to the solar industry to assist in product certification.
One of the more interesting dynamics of China's solar hot water heating market, according to Sangte Li, is the relationship between unit manufacturers and apartment developers. The nationwide construction boom parallels the largest increase in solar hot water heater installations in China's history. Most contracts are bid on the market through a formal competitive process, but Li has obtained much of his work through previous relationships, noting that entire apartment contracts are won based on friendships and a certain level of charisma. He says the market is saturated with solar hot water companies—there are over 2,000 today—making it difficult to differentiate one from the next. "The ability to engage developers and contractors is paramount in this industry," Li observes.
As for Kunming's status as China's premier "Solar City," it will need to remain at the cutting edge of this technology to retain this distinction. The city of Rizhao in northern China, with over half-a-million square meters of solar water heating panels, is quickly gaining notoriety in this renewable technology as well. Competition between universities in Beijing, which have patented the evacuated vacuum tube solar heater, and Yunnan University may be enough to spark the next wave of innovations throughout the country.
Traveling across China, it's hard not to notice a unique and environmentally benign technology that has been gracefully integrated into urban buildings and other structures. As solar hot water heaters have grown in prominence over the last 30 years, they are now visible almost everywhere, atop hutongs (traditional alley complexes) in Beijing, on modern apartments in Shanghai, and in farming communities in rural Lijiang.
The heaters consist of a series of cylindrical glass tubes, mounted at an angle, connected to a large water storage tank. Mainland China is now home to as much as 60 percent of the world’s solar hot water heating capacity, and the total installed capacity of the heaters in the country is estimated at 30 million households, according to Eric Martinot, a renewable energy expert and Worldwatch Institute senior fellow based in Beijing.
But it is clear that one city stands out as China's aspiring "solar city", and that is Kunming in the western province of Yunnan. Although Kunming is more often referred to as the "City of Eternal Spring" due to its moderate climate, as one travels toward the city's central district, it is virtually impossible to avoid the glare reflecting from water tanks atop nearly every apartment complex. More than half the city's 4.7 million inhabitants use the solar heaters, according to Sangte Li, CEO of Sangte Solar, a successful manufacturer and distributor of the units in Kunming.
As China's urban population continues to grow each year (by nearly 50 percent in 2007), many apartment renters now expect to get a solar hot water unit along with traditional amenities. "The technology is so cheap it has become commonplace for everyone to have," explains Li. "Most people consider it an included expense as part of their total energy bill.... A solar hot water heater is viewed as a standard appliance by most urban Chinese dwellers."
Sangte Li says the units can be relatively inexpensive to install, with the average heater costing only 1,600 yuan (about US$200). The affordability and prevalence of the units is attributed to the low cost of domestic manufacturing, a competitive market, and plentiful solar resources throughout China. Over the last three decades, the industry has matured as a result of the implementation of government incentive programs, revised building codes, and product certification centers.
The technology is simple and practical. Sunlight passes through an outer glass tube and heats an absorber tube inside; a vacuum in the glass prevents any loss in temperature. A heat pipe then carries the collected energy to the water storage tank, where the liquid is heated. Because the glass tube has a high thermal conductivity, it is able to transfer large amounts of heat with a marginal rise in temperature.
The earliest Chinese models were derived from European technology, but the modern all-glass evacuated vacuum tube used today throughout much of the country was developed and patented by professors at Tsinghua University in Beijing. An average unit is about as wide as a bathtub and roughly 1.5 meters tall. The heated water is used mainly for showers and for washing dishes and clothes.
Kunming is home to many experts in the solar field. The Solar Energy Research Institute at Yunnan Normal University, founded in 1971, consists of four laboratories specializing in solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, biomass energy, and environmental engineering. Through technology cooperation and personnel training, the Institute has played an important role in establishing the solar energy industry in the province. In addition, the Chinese government authorized the formation of three National Solar Water Heating Testing Centers in 2002, one of which is housed at Yunnan Normal. The center provides free testing services to the solar industry to assist in product certification.
One of the more interesting dynamics of China's solar hot water heating market, according to Sangte Li, is the relationship between unit manufacturers and apartment developers. The nationwide construction boom parallels the largest increase in solar hot water heater installations in China's history. Most contracts are bid on the market through a formal competitive process, but Li has obtained much of his work through previous relationships, noting that entire apartment contracts are won based on friendships and a certain level of charisma. He says the market is saturated with solar hot water companies—there are over 2,000 today—making it difficult to differentiate one from the next. "The ability to engage developers and contractors is paramount in this industry," Li observes.
As for Kunming's status as China's premier "Solar City," it will need to remain at the cutting edge of this technology to retain this distinction. The city of Rizhao in northern China, with over half-a-million square meters of solar water heating panels, is quickly gaining notoriety in this renewable technology as well. Competition between universities in Beijing, which have patented the evacuated vacuum tube solar heater, and Yunnan University may be enough to spark the next wave of innovations throughout the country.
First steps toward environmental change
By John Boudreau
Article Launched: 06/17/2007 01:32:37 AM PDT
BEIJING - When Fuqiang Yang looks out the window of his 24-story office in the central business district, he sees promising splotches of blue in the dirty sky.
The researcher with the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation believes the Chinese government is serious about averting an ecological meltdown.
The central government is calling for renewable energy, such as solar and wind, to provide 10 percent of its energy use by 2010, and 16 percent by 2020. That's a difficult goal, say some experts, who point out that California, which leads the United States in use of alternative power, derives about 11 percent of its power from renewable sources.
China also has pledged to reduce water and air pollution emissions by 10 percent and cut energy use per dollar of gross domestic product by 20 percent by 2010, though it failed to meet last year's target.
Hitting the 20 percent energy reduction target, said Wanxing Wang, another scientist with the Energy Foundation, would "save 600 to 700 million tons of coal over five years. That's huge."
"They are very serious," said Vincent Lo, the billionaire Shanghai chairman of the development company the Shui On Group. "As I go around various cities, they don't talk about economic growth. They are more focused on what they are going to do about emissions, the environment.
The total cost of cleaning up the cities will be around 5 percent of GDP every year."
Barry Friedman, who heads up the U.S. Embassy's commercial affairs division in Beijing, said China's government faces strong domestic pressures to act.
"If you ask any Chinese what the top issue is that China faces, there's one thing people in the rural and urban areas agree on: the environment," he said. "For 20 years now, they've been stampeding for economic development. They did not pay much attention to the byproducts of this, which are the environmental problems that are so formidable. Now, they are finally waking up to it."
But even if the central government is getting serious about pollution, it must prod recalcitrant provincial officials, who often are more concerned with economic growth than a clean environment. The central government has begun to tie energy efficiency and pollution mitigation to performance reviews of officials, a critically important move, experts say.
The Chinese government is quick to point out that the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions from developed countries, particularly the United States, have contributed most to global warming.
The United States needs to embrace tough measures before it can expect poor countries such as China to do likewise, said Jiang Lin, a scientist in the China Energy Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which works with Chinese researchers and regulators to improve energy efficiency in China.
"We have the technology, we have the income to take early action," he said. "Hopefully, we can demonstrate to the developing world our moral leadership and we can get them to do this without destroying their economy."
Late last month, President Bush proposed for the first time goals to cut greenhouse gases, which some observers see as a sign the United States finally will take a global leadership role. Critics, though, said the announcement to pursue non-binding limits is aimed at sidelining tougher measures backed by Europeans.
China's government, which is developing large wind and solar energy industries, plans to pay for some of the environmental cleanup by phasing out tax breaks for high-polluting industries.
Leaders in China's Jiangsu province are trying to emulate California's conservation measures. Stricter energy efficiency standards for appliances, power rate structures that encourage energy saving and tough building codes have helped to keep California's per-capita energy consumption the same despite decades of robust economic growth. The central government also has consulted with California officials, PG&E executives and environmentalists on the state's energy policies.
China's new aggressive attitude about environmental cleanup is personified by Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based non-profit Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, which lists the names of corporate water polluters on a Web site (www.ipe.org.cn). Although the government does not publicly endorse his efforts, it has not tried to stop him, even when his work embarrasses influential company bosses.
This grass-roots effort is "sort of a milestone" said Ma, a former Hong Kong journalist. In the next room of his Beijing office, his staff compiled data. Their organization receives funding from foundations and corporate donors.
Attorney Wang Canfa is conducting his own guerrilla war against corporate polluters. Wang, who operates out of a cramped, basement office at the China University of Political Science and Law, has been quietly filing lawsuits against polluters since 1999, successfully winning about a third of his 90 cases. Wang and his partners have shut down 35 factories.
He is training a new generation of Chinese lawyers with expertise in environmental law. "We believe that in the future, environmental protection will be strengthened," Wang said. "We have been changing the laws."
There remains plenty of resistance to change, particularly from rural leaders who worry more about providing jobs than dirtying the air, land and water with pollutants. While the central government works to shut down less efficient, small coal-fired plants, local politicians undercut the campaign, the Energy Foundation's Yang said.
"We have to encourage China," he said. "If they fail, it will damage their reputation. And they won't try again."
Article Launched: 06/17/2007 01:32:37 AM PDT
BEIJING - When Fuqiang Yang looks out the window of his 24-story office in the central business district, he sees promising splotches of blue in the dirty sky.
The researcher with the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation believes the Chinese government is serious about averting an ecological meltdown.
The central government is calling for renewable energy, such as solar and wind, to provide 10 percent of its energy use by 2010, and 16 percent by 2020. That's a difficult goal, say some experts, who point out that California, which leads the United States in use of alternative power, derives about 11 percent of its power from renewable sources.
China also has pledged to reduce water and air pollution emissions by 10 percent and cut energy use per dollar of gross domestic product by 20 percent by 2010, though it failed to meet last year's target.
Hitting the 20 percent energy reduction target, said Wanxing Wang, another scientist with the Energy Foundation, would "save 600 to 700 million tons of coal over five years. That's huge."
"They are very serious," said Vincent Lo, the billionaire Shanghai chairman of the development company the Shui On Group. "As I go around various cities, they don't talk about economic growth. They are more focused on what they are going to do about emissions, the environment.
The total cost of cleaning up the cities will be around 5 percent of GDP every year."
Barry Friedman, who heads up the U.S. Embassy's commercial affairs division in Beijing, said China's government faces strong domestic pressures to act.
"If you ask any Chinese what the top issue is that China faces, there's one thing people in the rural and urban areas agree on: the environment," he said. "For 20 years now, they've been stampeding for economic development. They did not pay much attention to the byproducts of this, which are the environmental problems that are so formidable. Now, they are finally waking up to it."
But even if the central government is getting serious about pollution, it must prod recalcitrant provincial officials, who often are more concerned with economic growth than a clean environment. The central government has begun to tie energy efficiency and pollution mitigation to performance reviews of officials, a critically important move, experts say.
The Chinese government is quick to point out that the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions from developed countries, particularly the United States, have contributed most to global warming.
The United States needs to embrace tough measures before it can expect poor countries such as China to do likewise, said Jiang Lin, a scientist in the China Energy Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which works with Chinese researchers and regulators to improve energy efficiency in China.
"We have the technology, we have the income to take early action," he said. "Hopefully, we can demonstrate to the developing world our moral leadership and we can get them to do this without destroying their economy."
Late last month, President Bush proposed for the first time goals to cut greenhouse gases, which some observers see as a sign the United States finally will take a global leadership role. Critics, though, said the announcement to pursue non-binding limits is aimed at sidelining tougher measures backed by Europeans.
China's government, which is developing large wind and solar energy industries, plans to pay for some of the environmental cleanup by phasing out tax breaks for high-polluting industries.
Leaders in China's Jiangsu province are trying to emulate California's conservation measures. Stricter energy efficiency standards for appliances, power rate structures that encourage energy saving and tough building codes have helped to keep California's per-capita energy consumption the same despite decades of robust economic growth. The central government also has consulted with California officials, PG&E executives and environmentalists on the state's energy policies.
China's new aggressive attitude about environmental cleanup is personified by Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based non-profit Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, which lists the names of corporate water polluters on a Web site (www.ipe.org.cn). Although the government does not publicly endorse his efforts, it has not tried to stop him, even when his work embarrasses influential company bosses.
This grass-roots effort is "sort of a milestone" said Ma, a former Hong Kong journalist. In the next room of his Beijing office, his staff compiled data. Their organization receives funding from foundations and corporate donors.
Attorney Wang Canfa is conducting his own guerrilla war against corporate polluters. Wang, who operates out of a cramped, basement office at the China University of Political Science and Law, has been quietly filing lawsuits against polluters since 1999, successfully winning about a third of his 90 cases. Wang and his partners have shut down 35 factories.
He is training a new generation of Chinese lawyers with expertise in environmental law. "We believe that in the future, environmental protection will be strengthened," Wang said. "We have been changing the laws."
There remains plenty of resistance to change, particularly from rural leaders who worry more about providing jobs than dirtying the air, land and water with pollutants. While the central government works to shut down less efficient, small coal-fired plants, local politicians undercut the campaign, the Energy Foundation's Yang said.
"We have to encourage China," he said. "If they fail, it will damage their reputation. And they won't try again."
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